A Detachment of

New York Christmas

www.sonsdny.org

Clockwise from Top: Santa arrived by Fire Truck at 282 in Lima; Hud-son Falls 574 breakfast with Santa, while other 574 members partici-pated in a Holiday Parade toy fundraiser; Children huddled to see Santa at 256 in Canandaigua;

Volume 7 Issue 3

THE LIBERTY Detachment of New York

Sons of The American Legion

Suite 1300

112 State Street

Albany, New York

12207 (518) 463-2215

Mid Winter 2018

Santa and his helpers paid a visit to District 3; New Winsor 1796 participated in Wreaths Across America, providing hot cider and donuts while over 5,000 Wreaths were placed on Veteran Graves.

PAGE 2 DETACHMENT OF NEW YORK NEWSLETTER VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3

My fellow Sons,

The new year is upon us! Happy 2018 to you and your families!

As I write this New Year’s Mes-sage I am pack-ing to start my 2018 travels and continue on be-half of the Sons.

Vice Commander Bob Myrtle and I will be join-ing the Legion Commander and the Auxiliary President on a tour of the 3

rd District beginning

Friday Jan 12th and going right into our Mid-

Winter Conference on the 19th. I’m looking for-

ward to seeing many of you there, as we seek to advance the goals of our great organization, as well and enjoy each other’s camaraderie!

For me, a new year always comes with fresh enthusiasm and excitement about all that is ahead of us, and all that we can do to advance ourselves, personally, professionally and as the SAL, organizationally. My time as commander is ONE HALF completed, but I see it as a FULL HALF still ahead to get things done. I’m looking forward to the remaining visitations, the legisla-tive work ahead of us when we visit DC and then Boys State and Convention next summer, but I also have some goals which could be called ‘strategic’.

How do we move the Detachment of New York

not just in size, but how do we become the top-

ranking state in terms of output? How do we

become the top donor to the Child Welfare

Foundation (CWF)? or Veterans Affairs and

Rehabilitation (VA&R)? How do we get record

breaking attendance at mid-winter and conven-

tion? How do we inspire many more young

members of our ranks to leadership positions at all levels of the organization?

There’s no ‘one’ answer to these challenges, but I think any answer has to have two parts.

1- Motivation and Excitement at the squadron level about doing more. More targeted fundraisers for CWF and VA&R, more young guys being asked to step up as leaders, and more “Pats on the back”

for those guys when they do.

2- I think is more prestige for the or-ganization for what we do. This will come with increased PR (Public Relations). Lets let everyone in our towns and counties know what we do, how big we are and how

much good comes from our activities.

I’ll be speaking more about this at Midwinter, and at all of my upcoming visits. I’m asking each of you who read about this to think about it and talk up any ideas you have with your fellow Sons.

I know we will succeed, as we have the best members of any Detachment bar none. And when we do succeed, our communities, our state, and our nation, will be the better for it!

I thank you all for all you do for the Sons of

The American Legion, and The American Le-

gion Family. I wish You and I wish our Or-

ganization, great success in the New Year

ahead!

William Clancy III, Commander

COMMANDER’S MESSAGE

by William Clancy III

…….FROM THE ADJUTANT’S DESK

by Robert J. Avery

PAGE 3 DETACHMENT OF NEW YORK NEWSLETTER VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3

Welcome to this 99th Annual

Mid-Winter Conference of The American Legion Department of New York. The Mid-Winter Conference is one of the highlights of every Legion year, when all members of the NY Legion Family meet.

I hope you find this year’s edi-tion just as good as always. Take the opportunity to meet fellow members and learn more about our organization! We are pleased to welcome National Vice Commander Kenneth Warner from the De-tachment of Pennsylvania this year. Also visiting us from the Detachment of Delaware is the Leading Candidate for National Vice Commander Michael Cotten.

According to the final 2017 Renewal Report we ended up at 91.46%, the 7

th in the Na-

tion, the highest among the largest 4 Detachments, and 2 and half points higher than the National average, which was 89%.

If we want to grow at a higher rate than we are, we need to get new members! How many people do you know at work that are eligible? Have you ever asked? Do you carry membership blanks with you for the entire Legion Family? Let’s make this a goal for the year……can every member sign up a new member?

Even if half of our members did, we would have a banner year.

Squadrons should be receiv-ing the 2018 Consolidated Squadron Report (CSR). As a reminder, this form is the most important document

that you need to complete.

The compilation of all volun-teer hours and donations from Posts and Squadrons are reported to Congress each year by the National Commander of The American Legion. National only ships us enough for one CSR per Squadron in our Detachment. Squadrons who have not re-ceived a CSR by mid-March should contact Albany HQ at 1-800-ALEGION.

You are reminded to com-plete and submit your CSR to Detachment HQ by April 30, 2018 for Detachment

judging.

Reports will then be for-warded by the Detachment Adjutant to National HQ.

Annie Wilsey, our long time Program Coordinator at De-partment Headquarters has now retired after 38 years of service. Most Squadrons have had the opportunity to contact Annie on more than one occa-sion for any number of rea-sons such as additional forms, etc. Her knowledge and assistance through the years has been exemplary. All of us in the De-tachment of New York wish her a fantastic retirement! An-nie will be visiting us at our Saturday session, so stop to chat and give her thanks for all she has done to keep our or-ganization running smoothly over the years. Our current Membership Coordinator Charlie LaHaise will now also be handing the duites of Program Coordina-tor. Charlie has been doing a terrific job and we wish him the best as he takes on more responsibility. He can be rea-ched at 1-8000-ALEGION Ext. 13 or by email….. char-lie@nylegion.org Here’s wishing all of you a successful 2018!

For the Good of The American Legion Family,

Robert J. Avery, Detachment Adjutant

Target Dates:

February 7, 2018 75%

March 7, 2018 80%

April 3, 2018 90%

May 1, 2018 100%

*July 1, 2018 105%

*Delegate Strength Target Date

PAGE 4 DETACHMENT OF NEW YORK NEWSLETTER VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 PAGE 4

Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation….by Tom Kurk

As we start the second half of this year, remember that veterans have more needs at this time of year. Just last week we went through a record cold spell. Homeless Shelters and Warming Shel-ters were filled beyond capacity. Do our veterans that are down on their luck deserve to be forced to survive in the elements and conditions that the winter of 2018 has ushered in? While the popu-lation of homeless veterans is down 56% since 2010, the current estimate is still 40,000 homeless veterans forced to live on the streets. The VA has a Homeless Veterans Hotline, 1-877-424-3838. Be prepared to hand it out if you if you meet any of our American Heroes forced to find shelter. As this is the last time we meet until convention, VA&R Commission wants to remind you:

1. “They Marched For Us, We Walk For Them” Walk-A-Thon is scheduled for April 21, 2018. We sincerely hope our squadrons have been making plans for this annual event with our family members from the American Legion Auxiliary. We can raise a large amount of funds for this project. All the information is posted on our Detachment Website at www.sonsdny.org. The Department of New York American Legion Auxiliary is anxious to work with us again. Linda Tomes, their VA&R Chairman has issued a challenge; who will raise more donations the Sons or the Auxiliary. Please don’t let me down.

2. Dead line for the William P. O’Connell Memorial Scholarship is April 30, 2018. This is a $2,000.00 scholarship promoted by the Detachment VA&R Commission. Again all information can be found on our Detachment website.

3. We have not had any entries for Judging at the Detachment level for the Charles B. Rigsby Volunteer Year Award in several years. I know we have many members putting in many hours of volunteer hours at our VA Medical Centers. This is a perfect way to recognize them. The Detachment VA&R Commission judges 1

st, 2

nd and 3

rd place winners with the first place winner

being sent to National to be judged for the National Charles B. Rigby award winner. Deadline for entries is May 31, 2018 and the forms can be found in our Detachment Manual.

4. Finally Consolidated Report Forms will be due April 30, 2018. LET’S ACHIEVE 100% RE-

PORTING. Please send in your report.

I thank the members of this commission, who have done an outstanding job spreading the word of

this commission. But it is you the Blue Cap Squadron members that are out in the field making our

programs work and assisting our veterans. My most heartfelt appreciation goes out to you.

About Homeless Vets….by Colin McDaniels In today’s society there are multiple homeless veterans that do not have any shelter, so they are

roaming the streets finding food and living in alleys ways. Most homeless veterans are homeless because

they are going through addiction with drugs and alcohol. There are many organizations that try and help

with homeless veterans. The American Legion and The National Coalition of Homeless Veterans, which is

a nonprofit organization. The two organizations partner to provide support to homeless veterans each year.

The National Coalition of Homeless Veterans try to help homeless veterans get off the streets and

help them find housing and employment, and help them to live in a stable environment rather than in the

streets left to die. Swords to Plowshares is a group that does the same thing as the coalition of homeless

veterans. When this group started 1974 they did not have much money. (continued on page 5)

Food Drive A Big Success

DETACHMENT OF NEW YORK NEWSLETTER VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 PAGE 5

About Homeless Vets… (Continued from page 4) It was started with one grant and now they have an annual budget of 19 million dollars. The Swords

to Plowshares was founded by six Vietnam Veterans in 1974.

To help these veterans get off the streets, these organizations like the American Legion, The Na-

tional Coalition of Homeless Veterans, and the Swords to Plowshares find homes or apartments for these

people to live in. The VA hospitals probably helped. There are veterans in VA hospitals throughout the

United States that would be living out on the streets if they were not living in the VA.

Some veterans are at risk for homelessness based on poverty because they use the money that they

have to help with their addiction to drugs and alcohol. Most homeless Vets are Vietnam Veterans.

There are many ways to help homeless veterans. There is contact information for the Homeless

Veterans Taskforce, On-Call Handbook for homeless veterans and the service providers, and a state by

state list of veteran justice outreach program point of contacts.

The VA in Canandaigua has helped homeless veterans. The Cadence Square housing project was

aimed to help homeless veterans and low-income veterans. This was started with the Finger Lakes Addic-

tion Counseling and Referral Agency, and was funded through many donations. There was a lot of legion

family donations to this project. This is right in the middle of the VA in Canandaigua.

The Sons of The American Legion (left) from Sgt. John Sardiello Post 1634 in West Babylon participated in a Thanksgiving food drive for our Lady of Grace food pan-try. The drive was a huge success. Sons partner with the Post throughout the year to serve Veterans, Children & Youth, and the Community on a regular basis.

DETACHMENT OF NEW YORK NEWSLETTER VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 PAGE 6

For the Good Of The Sons….

Walter T. Conley Post 1107 American Legion Family Supports “Homes For Our Troops”. Rick Wilson is an SAL member of Post 1107 in Union Springs, NY. In 2003 Rick took over the “Homes For Our Troops” project. The fund raising activity includes a two-day golf tournament at Wells College Golf Course and

selling 50/50 raffle tickets starting in the spring right through the summer. A lot of S.A.L. members help him. The golf tour-nament has many sponsors including the American Legion, the Sons of The American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary. All money raised goes to “Homes For Our Troops”.

At the ceremony, Legion members (mostly Vietnam veter-ans) speak and tell a little about their Vietnam experience. We, as the SAL, do the firing detail. We participate with our American Legion during parades and services and the Le-gion provided Legion pants and covers so all would look alike in the firing detail and color guards. We were all wear-ing the legion covers at this event. Also present were a cou-ple of other color guards, our Ladies Auxiliary from our post, and usually the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office .

The recipients, who have been severely injured, are getting a house built in New York State. The home is special built for the needs for that Soldier. Rick usually goes to the site of the home to look at it and he meets the recipient dur-ing that timeframe. At the opening day of the tourna-ment we have the recipient at the golf course. The re-cipient usually has a small speech about what hap-

pened to them. And after taps everybody there usually forms a line to shake their hand and thank them for

their service. The event is called the HR Wilson “Homes For Our Troops” Benefit.

Homer Wilson, Rick's father, was a highly deco-rated World War II fighter bomber pilot. Captain Wilson was a squadron leader and performed in the Mediterranean theater from 1943 to 1945, flew 138 combat missions and received many accom-modations including the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Since 2009 the Homer Wilson Memorial has do-nated more than $75,000 to “Homes For Our Troops”. In 2016 they donated $19,800 and in 2017 $14,500. (For more information about “Homes For Our Troops” go to www.hfotusa.org.)

(left) Walter T. Conley Post 1107 Family Honor Guard. Thomas Holland, Squadron Commander

Rick Wilson above on left. Below: 2016 recipi-ent “Ed” shakes hands with Sons Gary Nickerson

DETACHMENT OF NEW YORK NEWSLETTER VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 PAGE 7

For the Good Of The Sons…. (con’t)

We have a great team that makes-up the Detachment’s Public Relations Commission: William Clancy, Timothy Van Patten II, Kevin Harrington, Ken Kraetzer, Jim Coates, Joe Guidice, and again as Chair-man Gabe Cinquegrana. Public Relations is actually a communication process; a process that builds relationships between In-dividuals and Organizations. It’s really all about letting people know this is who we are, this is what we do, and here is what we have accomplished. Individually we become more powerful when we learn, and then teach each other. Our Organization becomes more powerful when we take that knowledge, share it with oth-ers, and let people know we have it. The overall objective of the Public Relations Commission is to coordinate the internal and external im-age and message of the Sons of the American Legion, and promote the goals achieved by it’s membership for all to learn and appreciate. We need everyone to assist by contacting your local news papers and stations when there is an event to publicize or an accomplishment to be shared. Don’t wait for the media to come to you, go to them. Public Relations is a vital key to membership; people want to join organizations that they have heard of, and are aware of the good things they do. The more you let people know, the more people will know you!

This Newsletter is part of the communication process, in an effort to educate ourselves and others on the ac-tivities and programs of the Sons of the American Legion. Please forward all articles and photos from your

Squadron for inclusion in the Spring issue no later than April 18, 2018.

Send to:

Gabe Cinquegrana, PR Chairman 4178 Angela Way, Canandaigua, NY 14424

Email: gcinqueg@rochester.rr.com

Public Relations…by: Gabe Cinquegrana

Squadron 574 participated in the annual Christ-mas Eve Road March. This is an event that was started by SFC Arthur Coon from the Army Na-tional Guard Queensbury NY to recognize the sacrifice for the troops who will not be here for the holidays.

We remember and honor them by walking 5k with lanyards holding the name's of those from our area who are serving or have given the ultimate sacrifice.

DETACHMENT OF NEW YORK NEWSLETTER VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 PAGE 8

Share The Pride - Build the Pride

When US Army veteran Brandi Christie and her children were invited to a family-friendly veterans’ event on November 30th 2017 at Webster’s Cottreall-Warner American Legion Post #942, she thought she was just going to watch her favorite band perform. 942’s Sons of the American Legion had a different idea. By the end of the night, Brandi had been handed the keys to a newly refurbished 2008 Nissan Quest minivan.

The donation was the culmination of a partnership between the Sons and an organization called Operation Build Up. Based in Conesus NY. Operation Build Up is dedicated to preventing veteran homelessness and suicides. According to Justin Cogswell, the organization’s founder, “We want to help veterans in their darkest moments. When they trip and fall, we as a country should work to help them up.” One of the main ways Operation Build Up accomplishes that is by purchasing (or receiving in donations) used cars, fixing them up, making them road-worthy, then giving them to Veterans in need. They typically rebuild 3 to 4 vehicles a

month, spending upwards of $800 and hundreds of volunteer hours on each one. The Sons began working with Operation Build Up about a month ago, when member Bill VerHagen invited Cogswell to one of their meetings to talk about his organization.

Sons Commander Nate Burdick (back row third from left) remembered the meeting. “We wrote a $1,000 check right then. Then everyone went home and donated more.” Immediately after that meeting, the Auxiliary donated another $1,000 to help with future builds.

Working hand-in-hand with Operation Build Up fits perfectly with the Sons’ mission, Burdick said. “The Sons are directly trying to touch any veteran in any way we can to support them. It’s veterans doing work for veterans, It was a perfect storm for what we are trying to do.”

Thursday night’s presentation was especially timely for Brandi. A 15-year veteran of the US Army, she still serves in the Army Reserve. But her family recently lost their vehicle, so she’s been missing the re-quired drills. In addition to the minivan, the Sons also handed Brandi a check for $500, so she didn’t even have to worry about paying for the

registration and insurance. Brandi’s four young children weren’t forgotten, either. As they scrambled into the back seats of their spacious new minivan, her daughter and three sons each discovered a stuffed dog and stuffed Christmas stocking awaiting them.

Brandi had but one question when she saw her vehicle for the first time. True to the selfless nature of all veterans, she asked through happy tears, “Is there something we can do to pay you back?” “No, you don’t need to do anything,” Cogswell answered. “This is America right here.”

Learn more about Operation Build Up and how you can help this or-ganization support our veterans. Visit www.operationbuildup.com.